On GL 3.x+ this isn't needed at all and on older hardware it causes performance issues, in particular with hires textures due to impossibility of precaching.
In addition it forces some really awkward handling of lighting for things that have their own color, like stenciled sprites or particles.
With this special case gone it will be possible to handle this case in a saner manner than it is right now.
As compensation for older hardware a fullscreen blend will be drawn over the entire screen. This won't be 100% accurate but it's preferable to keeping the current method.
